Scars
by TMNTgrl
Summary: There was a good reason Riku didn't want to go swimming with them that day. He never wanted them to see the permanent marks the darkness had left on him... Oneshot; post-KH2 fluff. Possibly slight implied SoRiku, but interpret it as you will.


_**A/N: Uh.**_

_**I'm still alive.**_

_**Sort of.**_

_**No really, I haven't dropped off the face of the planet, though this account seems to say otherwise lately. And I've been writing, too- I just...haven't been finishing anything.**_

_**Right, well...have some Kingdom Hearts fluff. Takes place shortly after KH2, but before they find the bottle with Mickey's note. I'm not entirely clear on the timing of that- if someone could kindly clarify it for me, I would happily give them an internet cookie.**_

* * *

"Rikuuuuu!"

The silver-haired teen glanced up slightly at his friend's call, but he didn't stir from where he sat on the hammock in the dark shack. "There you are!" came a triumphant exclamation from the doorway a few minutes later.

Riku sighed softly, but he still didn't stand up. He should have known that Sora would find him sooner or later. "Hey," Sora said, poking his head through the doorway. He was wearing a pair of red swim trunks, and his spiky brown hair dripped with seawater. "Riku, whatcha doing in here all by yourself? Don't you want to come swimming with us?"

Riku shook his head. "What's wrong?" Sora asked. The hammock swung gently as he sat down alongside his friend. "You feeling okay?"

"Yeah," Riku murmured. "I'm all right." He paused for a moment. "It doesn't feel like it's been that long, does it?"

"It hasn't," Sora pointed out. "A couple of months isn't that long, considering . . ." He grinned and crossed his arms. "Hey, wait a minute! What's with the sulking, huh? You should enjoy yourself while you have a chance!"

"I guess." Riku could feel a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth. Sora's smiles were always contagious like that.

"Then stop sitting in the dark by yourself and come swim with me and Kairi for a while! Tidus and Wakka and Selphie are here t-" Sora's voice trailed off when Riku's smile vanished. "What?"

"I can't," Riku mumbled.

"Why not? Forget how to swim?" Sora teased.

Riku rolled his eyes. "I can swim just fine and you know it. I just . . ." He turned his head away. "It's nothing. Go have fun."

"If it was nothing, you wouldn't look so upset."

"Just go, Sora!"

"Not until you tell me what's bothering you!"

Riku started to protest again, but no words came out. He knew that look on Sora's face all too well. The younger boy _never_ gave up when he had that look on his face. "Come on, Riku," Sora encouraged quietly. "You can talk to me."

"You want to know why I don't want to go swimming?" With a long-suffering sigh, Riku pulled his shirt over his head and turned his back to his friend. "_That's_ why, Sora."

"Wh . . . whoa . . ." Sora's gaze traveled over Riku's back and shoulder blades slowly, taking in each individual scar, each of the many jagged gouges in the skin. "How . . . what _happened_ to you?"

"The heartless," Riku answered, unable to bring himself to turn around and meet Sora's eyes. "The darkness. This is the price you pay for getting too close."

A hand touched his back gently, causing him to jump in surprise. "I'm sorry," Sora murmured. "I didn't know . . . I have a few scars of my own, but nothing like this . . ."

"Y-yeah." Riku's face burned with shame. He never wanted his friends to see what the darkness had done to him. The permanent marks it had left. "I thought you'd . . ." He turned his head to look over his shoulder.

Sora hadn't moved, one hand still resting against the rough, torn skin, his gaze soft and patient. "Come on, Riku," he said, managing a small smile. "If I accepted you when you looked like Ansem, why should a few scars make any difference? You're my best friend."

Once again, the smile was contagious, and Riku found himself beginning to relax a bit. "Does it hurt?" Sora asked.

"Sometimes," Riku answered. "A little," he added when Sora started to pull his hand away worriedly. "It's . . . stiff sometimes, that's all." He shook his head sadly. "It's more of a reminder than anything. Everything I've done wrong . . ."

"_Don't_," Sora protested. "Stop doing that to yourself. You can't change the past so stop worrying about it so much."

"I know that," Riku whispered. "I know. I'm sorry."

"What about this one?" Sora asked, his hand drifting to the reddish patch of skin on Riku's left side, just below his ribs. "It looks like a burn."

"Huh?" Riku twisted his head to follow Sora's gaze. "I have Xemnas to thank for that one. I'm surprised that I walked away from that fight with my ribs intact."

Sora raised a knowing eyebrow, and Riku laughed softly. "Okay, mostly intact. Either way, whatever those blades are made of burns when it makes direct contact."

"I'd imagine," Sora murmured.

Silence.

"You know, Riku . . . you only have this scar because you were protecting me."

"I know."

"But you didn't even . . . _think_, did you? You jumped in the way of the attack without hesitating."

"Of course I did." At last, Riku met the younger boy's gaze steadily, his turquoise eyes full of calm sincerity. "There was no time to think. I just acted."

"Then do these other scars really matter?"

Riku smiled sadly and lifted a hand to touch the rough flesh next to Sora's palm. "I guess not. Not to you and I, at least."

"Kairi either, I'm sure," Sora added. "Though Wakka and the others might not exactly . . ."

Riku shook his head. "All right," Sora said. "I get it. I'll leave you alone then." He stood up, brushing his hand across his friend's scarred back one last time as he rose.

"Thank you, Sora," Riku said softly.

"You're welcome, but I didn't do anything worth being thanked over."

Riku's sad smile didn't fade, and he didn't respond. He wondered if Sora knew how much his trust had meant in those darkest hours. How much that trust meant even now. How much of a comfort it was that he hadn't shied away from those terrible scars, or averted his gaze out of fear.

"Is Riku coming or not?" Selphie asked when Sora emerged from the shack a few minutes later.

Sora shook his head. "He said he's not feeling well." He shared a glance with Kairi, and she nodded in understanding and didn't press the issue.

About an hour later, Riku quietly emerged from the shack and perched himself in his usual spot on the twisted trunk of one of the island's many fruit trees. Kairi caught his eye and waved, and he waved back with a small smile.

He was content to merely lean back and observe. To watch over his friends and take comfort in seeing them happy. Even with things as peaceful as they were, Riku couldn't help but feel that the danger was far from gone.

As the sun began to set, Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie said their goodbyes and headed off of the island. Kairi made her way over to join Riku by the fruit tree, squeezing the water from her hair. "Hey, Riku," she said. "You feeling any better?"

"Yeah."

"Well next time we come to the island, you better swim with us!" Kairi grinned. "You can't just sit by yourself all the time!"

Riku managed a soft laugh. "You're right. I will."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

"You know, Riku . . ." Kairi leaned her back against the tree. "After everything that's happened, it's made me realize that there's no telling how much time we all have together. We have to make the most of what we've got, don't we?"

"Yeah," Riku agreed softly. "Sora told me the same thing."

"I should go," Kairi said after a few moments of silence. "I need to get home before my grandma gets worried. See you later, Riku!"

"See you."

Once Kairi was no more than a speck on the horizon, Riku slid down from his tree and headed around to the back side of the island. There was a small, secluded cove there, where the waves lapped gently and the setting sun warmed the dark rocks. They had discovered the spot when they were little; not even their parents knew about the hidden pools there.

He pulled his shirt over his head and slipped into the water with a soft splash.

The cold salt stung at the scar beneath his ribs, causing him to tense slightly. A few moments later, there was a second splash somewhere nearby.

Riku turned just in time to see Sora break the surface of the water, the spikes in his hair bobbing slightly as he shook his head and sent a light spray across the pool. Secretly, Riku had always wondered how Sora kept his hair that way. No matter how much water was dumped on it, no matter how windblown it got, it always sprang back to life at a flick of his head.

"You okay?" Sora murmured. He placed a hand on the rough flesh below his friend's ribs.

"Yeah," Riku whispered, finding that the gentle touch lessened the sting of salt on raw skin. "I'm okay."

He sank a little lower in the water and tilted his head back to wet his hair. It hung across his shoulders and stuck to his back in long clumps, so unlike Sora's ever-standing spikes. "My hair's gotten so long," Riku muttered.

"You haven't cut it short since you were little," Sora pointed out.

"Suppose not," Riku agreed. "It sounds stupid, but I haven't made time to even trim it in the past couple years."

"I like your hair short," Sora said. "Uh . . . I mean, it looks good short. I . . . mean . . ."

Riku laughed. "Well, maybe I'll get it cut then. So Sora." A sly grin played at his lips. "How much water do you think it'll take to flatten down those spikes on your head?"

"I don't know," Sora replied, blinking in confusion. "Why?"

"Let's find out!"

"Hey, what are you-" Sora's cry of protest was cut off as Riku dove toward him, grabbing onto his shoulders and dunking him underwater. He struggled free and broke the surface with a gasp, coughing and spluttering. "Are you trying to drown me or what?!"

"Doesn't seem to have worked," Riku mused, eyeing the way Sora's hair seemed to lift itself back to normal as though defying gravity. "Guess I'll just have to try again!"

"No, wait-!" Once again, the younger boy found himself being shoved underwater without any further warning, and once again he wriggled free and jerked his way to the surface. "Now you're in for it!"

Sora spun around and tackled his friend, and this time they both ended up underwater. They emerged a few moments later, laughing and rubbing the salt from their eyes. "It's been too long," Sora chuckled. "Since we were able to laugh like this."

"I know." Riku leaned back against the rocks. "I'd almost forgotten how easy it is to smile."

Sora settled down in a similar position and laid an arm across his friend's back, fingers gently brushing across the rough, jagged scars. Riku sighed softly. "It's not over, you know. They'll call on us to fight again."

"When they do, we'll be there," Sora said. "And we'll be there together. Right?"

"Right."

"Then stop worrying about it and relax!" Sora laughed and gave Riku's shoulder a light squeeze. "Relax while you have the chance. Smile."

"Yeah." Riku _was_ smiling; he had smiled more that day than he had in a long time. "You're right."

"My hair stayed the way it was, by the way," Sora added. "Even after being under three times. You lose."

"Shut up." Riku shoved the younger boy playfully, and once again they both began to laugh.

After some time, the two friends fell silent, sitting together against the cooling rocks as they watched the sun slowly dip below the horizon.

* * *

**_A/N: I love Sora and Riku so much...er, anyway, thanks for reading!_**


End file.
